THE Dons gaffer says his victorious players deserve a huge turnout after penalty shoot-out with ICT.

DEREK McINNES has urged Aberdeen fans to pack out Pittodrie and salute his League Cup heroes.

The Aberdeen boss was blown away as 43,000 fans turned Parkhead into Parkred to roar his side to glory last weekend.

Now the Manager of the Month for February wants a packed Pittodrie to be Pittredrie as the squad look to get back to business against Kilmarnock.

McInnes reckons the city has finally fallen back in love with its football team and hopes they shown their appreciation tomorrow.

McInnes said: “The crowd have been brilliant. The attendances are up in big numbers, both with our travelling support and at home. But no one will be more curious than me to see what our home support will be this weekend.

“The players deserve a huge turnout and the club are keen for that to be the case.

“It’s about getting that love back, not just fans coming out of a sense of duty. That’s been pleasing but there’s more we can do to get them back on a regular basis.”

The Dons’ attendances have soared by more than 25 percent under McInnes to an average of more than 12,000.

But the gaffer is greedy for more and said: “When it comes to our travelling support, it’s the minority that don’t sing. But at Pittodrie it’s the minority that do. We want to create that away energy at home – but obviously the players can help create that.

“I am in no way criticising the home support – far from it – because they have been absolutely brilliant.

“It’s about getting the numbers and the atmosphere that we’ve seen in games like the semi-final and the Final and replicating it at Pittodrie.”

McInnes wants a full house tomorrow but he is also looking forward to the open top bus parade down Union Street on Sunday.

He said: “The parade comes in between two games and we’ve had to deal with that.

“But we’d rather have that because some top Aberdeen teams have had that experience and I want this group to share it too.

“It brings the players and the support even closer together which is a good thing.